If you’re looking for a way to improve engagement on your website and reduce lost leads then look no further. Today we’re going to be looking at exit pop-ups and how they can help you in this department.

Exit pop-ups are an easy to implement and efficient way of generating leads, driving sales, and helping your site to convert against its other goals.

It’s been reported that over 70% of visitors that leave your site will not return. In this article we will look at how exit pop-ups can combat that statistic. We will discuss exactly what an exit pop-up is, why you need to use them, and the different types of exit pop-ups and WordPress exit pop-ups plugins available.

What is an Exit Pop-up?

An exit pop-up is just that. It is a pop-up that is displayed on a webpage, just as a visitor is about to exit the site. User’s mouse movements are tracked so as soon as they show intent of exiting a site, a pop-up appears. The content of the exit pop-up will then encourage the viewer to complete an action of your choosing.

Exit pop-ups can be displayed in a variety of ways. The most common is a lightbox pop-up that appears in the middle of the screen. However, exit pop-ups can also appear as slide ins or in the bottom right hand corner of a viewer’s screen. Some of the best WordPress exit pop-up plugins even give you the option of taking over the entire browser window. The style you choose should reflect the goal of your exit pop-up and your website’s style.

How Exit Popups Can Help Increase Goal Conversion Rates

There are many benefits to displaying exit pop-ups but ultimately the reason for using them on a website is to increase goal conversion rates.

Grow Your Email List

Firstly, and very commonly, an exit pop-up is used as a lead generator. Exit pop-ups can help collect emails for newsletters and mailing lists or followers for social media. Once you have collected a visitor’s’ email or encourage them to follow you on social media, then you can keep in touch with them, build a rapport, entice them back to your site, or pitch some other opportunity to them.

Increase Sales

Secondly, exit pop-ups are used as a popular method to drive sales. Offering free shipping, discount coupons, money off, or displaying promotions in an exit pop-up are all effective ways to turn a leaving visitor into a paying customer.

Gather User Feedback

Exit pop-ups can also be used to get feedback on your website or its processes, like the ease of the check out. By understanding what the visitors like, or have found difficult, you can tweak your site to make it more user friendly. The easier your audience finds your site to navigate the more likely they are to stay, thus increasing conversion rates.

Reduce Bounce Rates and Increase Page Views

Lastly, exit pop-ups are a great way to re-engage leaving visitors and decrease your bounce rates. Exit pop-ups can stop your audience from leaving by displaying links to another page or article on your site. If a visitor leaves your site without seeing your amazing content and what you have to offer then you could lose them forever. By redirecting traffic with an exit pop-up you reduce this risk.

What Type of Exit Pop-up Content Should Your Site Use?

The type of website you are managing and what its goals are will dictate what type of exit pop-up you should use and what type of content your pop-ups will display. The key is to display exit pop-up content that is relevant to what you want your site to achieve.

Display an Email Sign-up Form

If you are looking to grow your email list or generate leads, then you want to display an email sign-up exit pop-up. This could be simply asking people to subscribe to your mailing list or monthly newsletter. However, it is also a key place to display a lead magnet, going that extra mile to encourage people to part with their email address.

Invite People to Follow You on Social Media

To avoid missing the chance of returning visitors, your exit pop-up could ask people to follow you on social media. Users are often wary to hand over an email address but are more open to a follow or a like. If you can turn a leaving viewer into a social media fan then you still have a connection with them and a way of directly promoting your site and offers in the future.

Offer Free Shipping or a Discount Coupon

If you are running an eCommerce store one of the best types of exit pop-up content you can display is either a discount coupon or a free shipping offer. The fact your visitors are browsing your store means that they are more than likely interested in the products you are selling.

If they leave your site they are probably going to go straight to your competitors. So make them an offer they can’t refuse, with a discount off a product or a free shipping promotion.

Promote Top Offers or Special Deals

Not everyone is happy to sell items in their eCommerce store at a reduced price or give free shipping. If this is the case then you can still use an exit pop-up to entice your potential customers into parting with their money.

Promote your top offers in the exit pop-up or showcase your special deals. This could not only encourage people to stay longer on your website but has the possibility of resulting in sales.

Avoid Shopping Cart Abandonment

The shopping cart abandonment rate for eCommerce stores is high and using an exit pop-up is a great way to help deal with this problem. As a viewer goes to leave, an exit pop-up can flash up a notification about products in their cart. This will help remind them of what they wanted to purchase and hopefully help you close the sale.

Gather Feedback About the Website

Feedback exit pop-ups are often found at the bottom right hand corner of the page. They range in style from a question about why the customer is not purchasing today, or what the website could improve on, to asking the viewer to rate the site or the customer service.

This can help you get a feel for what the user experience on your site is like and why your potential customers might not be completing their transactions.

Advertise a Competition

If you are running a competition on your site, which you should be as the benefits are endless, then an exit pop-up is a great place to advertise it. Depending on where your viewer has been looking on your site they may well have missed the competition all together. Putting news of it in an exit pop-up should grab people’s attention and may well be enough to encourage them to take part.

What are the Best WordPress Exit Pop-up Plugins?

There are many WordPress exit pop-up plugins out there that can help you create and setup exit pop-ups on your site.

Optimonk

Optimonk is an exit popup and retargeting plugin for WordPress. While the plugin is free, you will need a premium Optimonk subscription (though they do offer a 1 day free trial – so you can be sure you love the service before signing on for a plan).

Optimonk includes 5 different types of messages you can use to capture the attention of your site visitors before they leave. Add a traditional popup, interstitial, sidebar notice, unobtrusive nanobar, or even a lucky wheel with a deal (plus there are 50+ styled templates to choose from). Just set your trigger – such as exit intent, or inactivity – and start capturing leads. Best of all, Optimonk is even integrated with Facebook Messenger recart – which converts much better than email.

Other plugin features include A/B testing for popups, visitor targeting, and a drag & drop popup customizer. You can learn more about Optimonk popups on their site, and signup for a free trial to give it a try on your own site.

OptinMonster

OptinMonster comes with powerful exit-intent technology which enables you to display an exit pop-up at the exact moment a visitor chooses to exit your website. By detecting user’s behavior like this and exposing them to a targeted campaign, just as they are about to leave, you are more likely to keep visitors on your site, collect emails, and make sales.

OptinMonster is a premium product and its numerous features reflect this. Among other things, it allows you to display personal pop-ups based on a user’s location and interaction with your site.

This WordPress exit pop-up plugin enables you to split test your pop-ups to find out what appeals to your audience. It also offers analytics so so you can measure your results. A truly versatile solution, OptinMonster is an impressive plugin for those serious about achieving their goals.

MailOptin

The MailOptin lead generation plugin is a great option for building popups and optin forms on your site. The plugin offers easy options via a form builder and template builder (choose from lightbox, notice bar, slide-in, embedded, before/after post or widget) so styling is easy. With it, you can quickly build custom calls to action to be used on specific pages, in your sidebar or footer, or even when users go to leave your site.

MailOptin Pro includes powerful exit intent tech to detect when a user is about to leave. Prevent site abandonment by enabling this feature on a custom optin to capture the user’s attention, display an offer and/or get them to subscribe before they leave.

The Pro version of the plugin also includes helpful lead generation features such as A/B split testing, time on site trigger, advanced targeting, additional optin templates, built-in auto-responder and even Elementor integration.  MailOptin is also compatible with pretty much every major email marketing platform out there – such as MailChimp, Constant Contact, ConvertKit, Drip, AWeber and many more.

Thrive Leads

The Thrive Leads WordPress plugin offers a whole selection of pop-up forms. To catch visitors before they leave your site this popular WordPress exit pop-up plugin uses the SmartExit and SmartExit+ technology.

This extensive technology enables pop-ups to be displayed based on the user’s behavior. This means that visitors won’t miss out on pop-ups, aren’t interrupted by them, and won’t see the same pop-up messages repeated if they choose to stay on the site.

Thrive Lead’s pop-ups are easy to create and very customizable. Offered at a much more affordable price compared to OptinMonster, Thrive Leads is a great WordPress exit pop-up plugin for smaller businesses or the humble blogger.

Yeloni Exit Pop-ups

Yeloni Exit Pop-ups is a free WordPress plugin specializing in exit pop-ups. This lightweight plugin can display offers, social buttons, redirection, and email signup forms, among other options.

This free WordPress exit pop-up plugin is quick to setup and straightforward to customize. The behavior of the plugin can also be configured to fit better with the needs of your site. This makes it a very popular free option, and a particularly valuable plugin for those just starting out in the world of exit pop-ups.

Final Thoughts

It is important that you choose the right type of exit pop-up for your site. Think carefully about your site’s goals and what you want an exit pop-up to achieve, then go from there.

You can also try running different exit pop-ups, monitoring your analytics carefully to see which options deliver the best results. Which type of exit pop-up will work best on your site? Please share your thoughts in the comments below.